Probable Mission: Take A Bath
by The Werewolf Mage
Summary: Severus Snape's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to get past Filch, the Marauders, and any other obstacles in the halls, make it to the Prefect's bathroom, and take a bath. K JUUUUUUUST to be safe.


Title: Probable Mission: Take a Bath

Summary: Severus Snape's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to get past Filch, the Marauders, and any other obstacles in the halls, make it to the Prefect's bathroom, and take a bath.

**Notes: I'd like to get back into fanfiction. I've been sick lately, been doing things other than spending computer time writing, and just lost my flow of stories. So I'm not sure if I will continue anything I've started unless anyone really really wants me to. I would, however, like to do a fic with the Marauders winding up going through time because of a certain someone breaking a Time Turner. **

**And as for Snape being a Prefect, not sure on that note. But it's all the more the fun to have him sneaking to the Prefect's bathroom!**

Down in the depths of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry a wall sprang open, revealing the Common Room to Slytherin House. Sticking his head out of the wall, one Severus Snape hopped out and hurried down the silent corridor.

He was off to take a bath. Now normally that would not call for secrecy and sneaking out after hours. But as his fellow students loved to torment him for being greasy, they surely would not make going to bathe a pleasant experience either.

Shaking the thoughts of shampoo being tossed out of the window or his clothing snatched away by Peeves the poltergeist, Snape started his journey to the fifth floor and the Prefect's bathroom.

Pulling his wand from his robes, he muttered a spell that would quiet his footsteps. Filch, the caretaker of the school, was out prowling the halls. He did not care for any excuse. Even if a student lurking the halls at night had a dire medical emergency and had to see Madame Pomfrey he would still drag said student to Headmaster Dumbledore.

Not to mention the other teachers lurking in the halls. Sure it was for the students' safety, and Snape was always pleased when James Potter and his little band of misfits were punished for it, but when he was out he would much rather not be caught. Even by his own Head of House.

During the day the long walk to the fifth floor was no problem. At night there were plenty of issues with it. As Snape hurried up the stairs leading to the first floor he heard a cackling. Peeves the poltergeist was bouncing along the halls, causing mischief and mayhem. As he swore under his breath, Snape could hear the frightened squeals of the portraits lining the halls. Snape ducked into an unused classroom and pulled the door shut, hoping that Peeves would have no reason to go inside.

He leaned against the door, his ear pressed to it. Along with the noise and chaos Peeves was causing Snape heard the approaching wheezes and shouts of the caretaker Filch. He winced. If Peeves were to float into his hiding place, and drag Filch with him, there would be no bath for him.

'Keep going!' he hoped silently. 'Go harass the House Elves for all I care!'

As the sounds of the ghost and the caretaker passed him and continued on, Snape let out a breath. Then he bolted from the classroom and hurried up the stairs. He was on the third floor when he stopped. As pleased as he was to put space between himself and Filch he realized he was being careless.

He slowed his pace and clung tightly to his things, wrapped in an emerald green towel. He had also realized in his running that he could have lost his stuff.

As he passed by a suit of armor, which coughed as it realized someone was out of bed, he heard footsteps. He looked around. There was nowhere to quickly duck. With a small shrug Snape slid behind the suit of armor, trying to will himself into invisibility.

The Headmaster himself, Albus Dumbledore rounded the corner. His hands were in the folds of his deep purple robes and he was staring up at the ceiling as he walked, humming to himself.

Behind the armor, Snape breathed a small sigh of relief. It was just Dumbledore. If he were to find him, Dumbledore would be more understanding than Filch. Even so Snape did not want to be found.

Which is why he sucked in his breath as Dumbledore paused in front of the armor. Snape watched as his took his sleeve and flicked a bit of dirt off the armor, which clanked in appreciation.

"Filch shouldn't spend all his time worrying about Peeves, eh?" Dumbledore asked with a chuckle. He then walked on his way, humming absently.

"Sometimes I can agree with those who call him a nutter." Snape said to himself. The armor shuddered loudly. "Oh be quiet!" he hissed, pulling out his wand. He whispered a quick stunning spell and hurried away from the now silent armor.

"Almost there!" he breathed as he hurried up the stairs to the fourth floor. Then he heard it. The sound he loathed to hear. James Potter's voice.

"Bloody hell, Wormtail! Why have you got to be so clumsy? That's my foot!"

Snape scowled. Not only was it James Potter, and from the sound of it friends, but they were under Potter's cloak. His scowled deepened. They were standing between himself and a bath and he did not like that.

And the fact that they were hiding under an Invisibility Cloak made it all the more annoying. They could see him before he could see them! Curse them!

Ducking behind a tapestry concealing a hidden passage, and hoping they were not there, Snape clung tightly to his wand. The passage was dark and came out near the fifth floor. If they were in there, not only would Potter and his pals not be under the cloak but would probably light their wands to see as well.

Holding his breath, his fingers inching to hex anyone or anything in a split second, he raced along the passageway. He slipped though a false wall at the fifth floor staircase. He did not hear James Potter or anyone else. He released the breath he was holding and bolted up the staircase.

Two minutes later, Snape shut the door of the Prefects' bathroom behind him with a contented sigh. He turned on the tap and sank down, his feet dangling in the tub that was really a small swimming pool. This was always the hardest part of his bath night. But oh so worth it. If only the people who swore he did not bathe could see him!


End file.
